"Hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us; but the things that are in heaven, who hath searched out? And Thy counsel who hath known, except Thou give wisdom and send Thy HOLY SPIRIT from above?"-Wisdom ix. 16, 17. THE EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. CHAPTER I. 1 GOD, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His SON, The expression "these last days" means these Christian days, at the end of which we are to look, not for any revelation of GOD's will, but for the revelation of GOD Himself coming to be our Judge. O LORD JESU, Prophet of prophets, Teacher of teachers, Fountain and Fulness of Truth, teach Thou me: speak to my heart: make me to hear Thy voice: make me to obey Thy voice. Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, 66 Heir," that is, "LORD, of all things:" this is spoken of our blessed Redeemer in His human nature; of that nature, concerning which He said when on earth in the flesh, "All things are delivered unto Me of My FATHER," and "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth."1 Ps. ii. 8; Acts ii. 36. B by Whom also He made the worlds; Here it is the Divine Nature of our LORD, of which the SPIRIT speaks. Observe, He Who was made LORD of all, and He Who is the Maker of all, is one and the same Person, the GOD-Man, our SAVIOUR.1 3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, Or rather, as the word properly means, of His "essence" or "substance.' "" And as the essence is everlasting, so also is Its Image, our LORD JESUS CHRIST, "GOD of GOD, Light of Light, Very GoD of Very GOD." Even as He said Himself, "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the FATHER." and upholding all things by the word of His power, Here is another proof of the Divine Nature of "the Man CHRIST JESUS;" for who can uphold all things, and that, by His Word, save GOD only? when He had by Himself That is, by His own voluntary act; for He laid down His lifeno man took it from Him. It also means by Himself, and by none other; for "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." It alludes also to the precious truth, that He was Himself both Priest and Victim in the awful sacrifice on the Cross. By these words the HOLY SPIRIT would perhaps have us understand the superiority of our Incarnate LORD, as Priest, to Aaron and his sons. purged our sins, That is, wrought out the cleansing for our sins, "washed us from our sins in His own Blood." sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. 1 S. John i. 3. The Apostle is speaking of our LORD JESUS, in that nature which He shares with us. Even in that nature He became of far higher dignity than the angels, inasmuch as that nature, by its union with the Godhead, inherited the Name of the Son of God; the Name which is above "every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.' 5 For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? These words are from Ps. ii. 7, and are applied by S. Peter to our LORD, Acts xiii. 33, where he explains that "this day" means our LORD's resurrection day. But the expression may also apply to His eternal generation, or to His Incarnation, or to His Ascension. To the angels it may be observed God has given the title "sons of GOD," as in Job xxxviii. The meaning of the SPIRIT here is, GOD hath never singled out any one angel and spoken of him as a sharer of the Divine Nature, or, as His begotten SON. Our Redeemer is "the Only-Begotten," "begotten of His FATHER before all worlds." These words were never spoken to angels, yet are they spoken to us in CHRIST. Oh great glory! And again, I will be to Him a FATHER, and He shall be to Me a SON? These words were spoken in the first instance of Solomon, 2 Sam. vii. 14: here we are taught that they were spoken to him, not as a man, but as a type or image of CHRIST. He was a type of the LORD the King, in respect to his wisdom, his peaceful reign and extensive kingdom, and, as the builder of GOD's Temple at Jerusalem. 6 And again, when He bringeth in the First begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of GOD worship Him. Here we have One Person, namely GoD the FATHER, commanding the angels to worship Another, namely GOD the SON, which is an acknowledgment from the FATHER, of the Godhead of the SON; for worship can be given, by GoD's will, to GOD only. The words are to be found in Ps. xcvii. 7. It is with reference to those, who being led by the SPIRIT 2 |